Telephone dial attachment



'April 30, 1940. a. l. DORMONT 2,198,935

TELEPHONE DIAL ATTACHMENT.

Filed Sept. 27, 1958 gwvamm 650265 J. DokMo/vr,

Patented Apr. 30, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,198,. TELEPHONE DIAL ATTACHMENT Application September 27, 1938, Serial No. 231,892

4 Claims.

This invention relates to an attachment for dial telephones and particularly to dial telephones having a rotatable finger plate with holes therein, each hole corresponding to certain symbols which may be seen through the holes or at one side thereof. In using such dial telephones, the user inserts the tip of his finger in the hole corresponding to the number or letter of the call number and rotates the rotatable plate to a fixed stop.

In order to dial a number, it is, of course, necessary to have the symbols easily observable during the dialing operation. This is not always feasible since telephones are sometimes placed in corners of rooms and in booths where the ordinary illumination is not suflicientto make the numbers easily visible. The present invention solves this problem and also eliminates the necessity of turning on the light when using a bedroom telephone at night.

An object of this invention is to make the symbols of dial telephones discernible. so that the telephones may, therefore, be operated in the dark;

A further object of the invention is to provide economical dial indicia having luminous symbols which may be observed in the dark.

A further object of the invention is to provide a simple and easily attachable and removable luminous dial for dial telephones.

-Attachments for dial telephones to make the symbols thereof discernible in the dark are well known in the art, one of such attachments bein disclosed in U. S. Patent 1,850,550, of March 22, 1932. The present invention, however, is an improvement on such prior attachments in that it does not require the removal or changing of any of the present telephone parts. That is, the pres ent invention is immediately attachable to and removable from the two types of dial telephones commonly in use, and may be attached and removed by anyone without the use of tools of any kind. It is-also simple and economical to construct and will produce the same results as the complicated structures now known.

Although the novel features which are believed to be characteristic of this inventionare pointed out with particularity in the claims appended herewith, the manner of its organization and the mode of its operation will be better understood by referring to the following description read in conjunction with the accompanying drawing forming a part thereof, in which Fig. 1 is a plan view of the attachment applied to the usual desk type of telephone;

Fig. 2 is an elevational view of the attachment of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the attachment itself;

Fig. 4 is a plan view of another embodiment of the invention applied to the usual wall or pay station type of dial telephone; and

Fig. 5 is a side view of the embodiment shown in Fig. 4 taken along the line-5-'-5 of Fig. 4.

Referring now to the drawing in which like numerals identify the same elements, base 5 of a desk type dial telephone has mounted thereon a rotatable finger dial 6 with its central disc 1 containing a number plate 8.' A finger stop it is located to the right, which determines the amount of rotation for any particular hole ll of the rotatable dial. The symbols I! on the base plate I! may be'seen through the holes ii. The elements just described are standard telephone parts and the application of the present attachment does not change or alter them in any manner.

The attachment of the invention is shown as a thin, flat segmental ring it shown alone in Fig. 3, and attached to the telephone in Fig. 1. When in position, the attachment rests on top of the plate ll, while the ends thereof are underneath the solid portion ll of the rotatable ring 6, shown broken at I and is, and are thus not observable. The attachment. may be made of thin sheet metal, Celluloid, stiff paper or other similar material, preferably of a dark color, upon which is stamped or painted in luminous materials such as phosphorescent paint or radium salt compositions, the usual telephone dial symbols ii.

To maintain the attachment fixed in position, the interior diameter of the ring it is made slightly smaller than the stationary collar ll of the telephone. as shown in Fig. 2, so that the ring will tightly grip this collar. To produce a larger friction area, parts of the internal circumference of the attachment are flared, as shown at 20. The ring is easily positioned around the collar ll, however, by inserting it between the finger ring t and plate It from the left side of the telephone. To facilitate this operation, slight notches or grooves it are cut therein, which perniits the ring to bend and elongate around collar ii. Attachments made of black Celluloid have been used with-success. To further aid in the attaching operation. the ends 2| are rounded and also slightly turned upwardly so that they will easily slip around the collar ll without sticking. The luminous material is covered over with a transparent shellac or paint to protect the symbols from contact with the finger or other objects used for dialing.

Another embodiment of the invention is shown as a segmental ring 25 mounted over the stationary indicia ring 26 of another type of telephone dial having a base and collar 36. In this type of dial structure, the rotatable ring 21 is positioned within the symbol dial 26,. ring 21 being rotated against the usual finger stop 28. The attachment 25 carries the same symbols or indicia as attachment H which, of course, correspond to those on plate 2%. To maintain at tachment 25 to plate 26, bent-over sections 3b, 3|, 32 and 38 are provided, the sections hooking over the plate 26. These hooks hold the dial 25 in position and may be aided by tension in the attachment obtained by making the external diameter of the ring 25 slightly smaller than the external diameter of the plate 26. This attachment is also made of thin resilient sheet material which may be metal, Celluloid, or the like, and preferably of a dark color upon which the luminous symbols are stamped or painted and covered with a colorless shellac or varnish for protection thereof. o

It will be noted that both dials I4 and 25 are quickly and easily attachable to the two types of telephones illustrated without the -use of tools and without the removal or changing of any part of the telephone or the dial. The rings are also as easily removable from the telephones. The dials are economically constructed, so that in cases of replacement no large expense is involved.

I claim:

1. A dial telephone attachment comprising a thin, fiat split ring segment resilient in twodirections and having luminous symbols thereon coinciding with the original symbols of said telephone, and additional means integral with said segment as the sole means for maintaining said segment in fixed position on said telephone with respect to said original symbols and permitting said segment to be attached and detached from said telephone without removal of any part thereof. g

2. An attachment for dial telephones of the rotatable finger ring type and having a cylindrical portion comprising a thin, flat resilient split ring segment having luminous symbols thereon coinciding with the original symbols of said telephones, additional means integral with said segment as the sole means for maintaining said attachment fixed to said cylindrical portion when tween said finger ring and indicia plate and maintained on said collar solely by friction, said split ring having luminous indicia thereon coinciding with the usual indicia of said indicia plate and attachable and detachable from said dial telephones without the removal of any part of said telephones, and transparent adherent material covering said luminous indicia, said split ring having the ends thereof rounded and bent from the plane of said ring and the internal circumference notched to permit said ends to be bent around said collar between said finger ring and said indicia plate and said internal circumference flanged to maintain said attachment fixed on said collar.

4. A luminous dial attachment for dial telephones comprising a thin, fiat open-ended symbol segment having a plurality of integral hooks along the external circumference thereof said segment being resilient in a direction. normal to its plane and also in a direction parallel to its plane to cover the original indicia plate of said telephones and hook over the external circumference thereof, the ends of said segment being separable to permit attachment of said segment to said plate to cover the original indicia plate of said telephones and hook over the external circumference thereof.

GEORGE I. DORMONT. 

